


A Slice of Life in Stardew

by orphan_account



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Romance, farm shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-10-19 05:02:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17595125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A collection of snippets and one-shots featuring the farmer, Harvey, a collection of poorly behaved farm animals, and their adventures---domestic and otherwise---in the Valley. No particular chronological order.





	1. The Doctor and the Dunking

"Have _you_ ever looked into the eyes of another living creature and found that its sole mission in life was to murder you?"

"Once or twice in the mines, yes, but never in my own barnyard." The farmer tried to tamp down a chuckle and succeeded only in turning it into a snort as she rolled up her sleeves to fish Harvey's glasses from the bottom of her goats' water trough. "And to be fair to James, I don't think headbutting you into two feet of water really counts as trying to murder you, does it?"

Harvey paused in wringing his jacket out over the grass to narrow his eyes at her. "You're a wonderfully sympathetic person, aren't you? I clear my schedule for a house call and this is the thanks I get. What _is_ this world coming to?"

The farmer laughed outright this time, the sight of Harvey's soaked curls falling into his eyes as he tried to glare and his damp mustache drooping into the way of his frustrated sighs becoming too much to resist. His "house calls" were hardly serious affairs these days. On days when she couldn't make the trek into town to deliver a coffee (and a good morning kiss or two), he came to her instead, often bearing dinner from the saloon or a basket of baked goods from Evelyn. The farmer plunged a hand into the water and grimaced as her fingertips brushed against the squishy remains of what might have once been a baguette. Whatever he had brought today would have to be forfeited. No matter. Her own kitchen was well-stocked with produce from her spring and summer harvests; it wouldn't be hard to whip up something hot and comforting as a peace offering after Harvey's unplanned dip.

She'd be lying if she said she hadn't worried at first, when the sound of Harvey apparently bargaining for his life had wafted in through the barn's open door. _"Easy now...You just...stay over there, please. No! No, no, NO—"_ Visions of golems escaped from the mines or slimes migrating from the deep woods had flashed across her mind as she rushed out into the barnyard just in time to see Harvey tip backwards into the water trough, James the billy goat bellowing in outrage as he fell. The farmer bit her lip to keep the snickers from bubbling up in her throat again at the memory of Harvey's pristine brown Oxfords flailing above his head as he went down. It wasn't funny. It _shouldn't_ be funny. But, really, it was a lot better than finding him under attack by something truly dangerous, wasn’t it? She grinned as her fingers closed around the missing glasses. She was relieved. And, she mused as she turned to return to her dripping, flustered doctor, vastly amused.

"This is a bit embarrassing...Getting knocked down in front of a lady is hardly a good start to the evening," Harvey grumbled, his cheeks flushed with something other than the late October chill.

"Well, it might not be an ideal start," the farmer said, drying off the glasses with the hem of her shirt and beckoning with her free hand. Harvey stooped down obligingly and she settled the frames back on his nose where they belonged. She trailed a finger downwards, tracing the lines of his chest through his damp shirt. It clung to his torso, outlining his modest muscles in sharp relief. "But it does make for a very nice view..."

Harvey's cheeks flamed an even brighter shade of red, but the farmer could see his lips beginning to curve up beneath his mustache. Whatever shyness he harbored faded a little more every day, even if remnants of it held stubbornly on. "It's not that nice...particularly with grass stains from your goat's horns blocking so much."

"I happen to like this view very much, thanks. Minus the stains, of course." The farmer cocked her head, her one real concern rearing its head. "Are you really alright? No damage from where he hit you?"

She could see the faint greenish outline— the goat had been rooting through the dwindling supply of fresh grass all day—of where James' head had met Harvey's legs just below the knee. After a year of wrangling the goats herself, she knew from experience that such battle wounds would ache for a few days, but would likely leave nothing more than a few colorful bruises. Still, the idea of Harvey suffering from a skirmish from one of her own animals didn't sit well. He was always so careful and protective with her, fussing over even the tiniest scrapes earned in the mines or splinters picked up in the forest. This seemed like a poor way to repay his attentiveness.

"No, nothing a few days' time won't cure." Harvey flashed a reassuring smile and patted her shoulder to soothe the worry that must have shown in her eyes. She wrinkled her nose at the wet handprint soaking into her shirt, but the mischief twinkling in Harvey’s eyes kept her from shrugging his hand away.

"You're sure?"

"Well, I _am_ a doctor, but if you insist on taking a look yourself..."

The farmer rolled her eyes and looped an arm through his (waterlogged shirts aside) to tug him in the direction of the farmhouse.

"C'mon, then—if you're well enough to be ornery, you're well enough to walk to the house to warm up in front of the fire."

"Ornery? Me? The very idea…”

The farmer snorted and knocked her shoulder against his, relishing the quiet smile he flashed at her. That vein of mischief was buried deep. Not many people got to see it and even for those who did, it was a rare treat only brought to the surface by the strangest of triggers. An offhand remark, an otherwise mundane task…even a fractious goat. The farmer let out a contented sigh and watched her breath turn to fog in the chilly evening air. Whatever brought out the humor in Harvey, she was just glad that she had the privilege of sharing it.


	2. History and Hope

Harvey hadn't spent much time in the museum since coming to Pelican Town. Its small library was painfully devoid of the medical texts to which he devoted most of his reading time and since the artifact collection itself had gone missing ages ago, he had had no reason to visit. Nor was he sure he would have even if the collection _had_ remained intact instead of vanishing into the night with the previous curator...History had never been his strong suit. Medical school left little room for outside interests, and even before that, he'd preferred dreaming of the future much more than dwelling on the past. Even if that future had never really panned out the way he had intended.

Still, he always found himself here once a year. Even eccentric museum curators who refused to leave the building for anything less than archaeological emergencies needed physicals, and Gunther was no exception. Harvey trekked across the river and carried out the exam in the library's quiet solitude every autumn. He didn't mind it, really. The change of scenery was usually welcome during the clinic’s lull between summer heat strokes and winter flus, and the walk—with the scenic stone bridge and the river's soft gurgles—was always a pretty one.

Today was no different, as he finished jotting down Gunther's vitals in a dim corner of the apartment above the museum itself and congratulated the old man on his continued excellent health.

It wasn't until Gunther escorted him downstairs and almost to the front door that he noticed anything out of the ordinary. A flash of movement in the shadows of what had once been the gallery, bright red against the evening gloom. Harvey pulled up short and squinted for a better look while Gunther just moseyed back to his post behind the counter. Harvey hovered at the threshold, caught between propriety and curiosity. It was none of his business who frequented an empty museum afterhours...but it couldn't hurt to see what they found so fascinating. He crossed through the library's quiet line of shelves, poked his head through the doorway, and stared. It was nothing like it had been the last time he'd laid eyes on it. Rows of once-empty display tables sat half-full, weighed down with chunks of gleaming rock and battered artifacts. A figure lingering by the furthest display turned at the noise of his shoes against the floorboards—the farmer, battered pack slung over the shoulder of her vibrant red shirt and her hands full of some unidentifiable earthy specimen. Harvey blinked owlishly.

"What are you doing here?"

The farmer grinned and went back to arranging the stones on the nearest pedestal.

"What are _you_ doing here? I come here every week and haven't seen you once before now."

"I made a house call," Harvey murmured as he wandered further into the room. Dozens of neatly arranged exhibits sat behind hand lettered placards—Gunther's old-fashioned handwriting, if he wasn't mistaken—explaining what they were, where they were found, and who had donated them. Every last one bore the farmer's name in small, but bold print. "You've been much busier than you let on."

"Not really...my line of work lends itself to stumbling onto this kind of stuff."

That seemed to be an understatement, given how many of the placards listed her own farm as the location of origin. Harvey supposed it made sense that she would dig up plenty of history with all the plowing and tilling and hoeing that came with planting crops. It was the minerals that made him nervous. All of them clearly came from the mines north of town, where all manner of horrors resided and all manner of injuries could be found. He suppressed a shudder and fought the urge to scowl at the assortment of frustratingly lovely rocks. No matter how many times he warned her about going up there, he had yet to convince her to stop. It was enough to make him want to yank his hair out in frustration sometimes.

"Are you trying to set the quartz on fire with your eyes alone?"

Harvey glanced over to find the farmer hovering at his elbow now, teasing grin on her face as she dusted off her hands on the seat of her jeans.

"I might, given all the risks you took getting it," Harvey retorted, softening the snark with a quiet smile. "They're very pretty rocks—"

"Minerals, sweetheart."

Harvey forged on despite the way his pulse always stuttered a half-beat at her endearments. "— _minerals_ , but I do wish you wouldn't go into those mines for them. They aren't worth it."

_Not worth you,_ he added mentally. The farmer let out a sigh that landed somewhere between exasperated and fond. She leaned against his side and looped her arm through his, soft and reassuring as always. He always marveled at that. At how someone with so hard a life could remain so soft.

"Well, the quartz isn't, but that isn't exactly what I go down there for...There aren't many other steady sources of ore, you know."

Harvey huffed through his mustache. It was an old argument, hashed out and subsequently rehashed over the course of many visits to his clinic. Still, he could never quite keep from trying again whenever the subject came up.

"And without ore," the farmer continued, tipping her head to rest it against his shoulder. "I'm never going to be able to expand the farm the way I want to."

"It's quite lovely the way it is."

"The cottage is a bit small." Her voice dipped meaningfully. "Especially for more than one person."

"That...is true enough, I suppose." Harvey felt his cheeks warm at that implication. It was always a tight fit at either of their homes, fraught with accidental jostles in the narrow aisle of his kitchen or squeezing together in the farmer's single oversized armchair before the fire, but the farm cottage was the only place where expansion was even an option. Not that Harvey minded the closeness. But they would certainly need expansion for any...more permanent...arrangements. He smiled at the thought of that, dreams of cozy nights in a home large enough for both of them dancing through his head.

"See? There's method and motive to my madness. Besides, Gunther would be devastated if I stopped exploring before I filled out the collection a bit more. He cares more about the artifacts than the minerals, of course, but still."

Harvey's attention snapped back to the table in front of them, skimming over the broken cogs and yellowed bones left over from decades past.

"It looks like you've found a great deal already." Harvey paused to glance over at the farmer and found her admiring the artifacts with the same affectionate pride he saw when she surveyed her chickens or a field full of parsnips. "I hadn't realized you were interested in history."

"I'm no expert, but I do like it. There's something gratifying about seeing where we've been. How far we've come. What the people who came before us were like." She flashed an uncertain smile. "It isn't the most exciting hobby---or the cleanest---but it feels good to help."

"It shouldn't be a surprise, really." Harvey let out a chuckle, soft out of respect for their surroundings, and lowered his head to rest his chin in the farmer's hair. "You do seem to have a taste for old things."

The farmer sputtered and jammed an elbow against his ribs, drawing a muffled yelp and another snicker.

"You call yourself old one more time, and you'll never see another jar of my pickled eggplant again!"

"You say that line every time, you know."

"And someday, I'll follow through on it!"

Another roll of laughter bubbled up and out, but it left behind a warm glow in Harvey's chest. Someday. He savored the sound of it. The dream of it. History had its place...but the future still shone bright for him. Brighter now than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I've so appreciated the kudos and the comment! If you have any thoughts on the story so far or have requests for a scene or a concept you'd like to see, feel free to drop me a line!


	3. All is Well

Never again, the farmer decided, would she take the advice of the wizard without a grain of salt. One moment she was exploring a new and exciting patch of forest and the next she was collapsing into Harvey's arms in a battered heap, all because Rasmodius was generous enough to share his secrets, but too forgetful---or perhaps just too distracted---to mention their drawbacks. She screwed her eyes shut to block out the blinding white lights from the fixture over the gurney Harvey had half-carried her to a few moments earlier and groaned at the indignity of it all.

"Easy—I know it isn't pleasant, but we'll be done very soon," Harvey piped up from where he was clearing away the remnants of the slime attacks, his low voice almost soothing enough to distract her from the burn of the alcohol swabs as they stripped the venomous muck away from her skin. She knew he was placating her. With the veritable horde of slimes that had swarmed her in the Secret Woods, she was covered in wounds from the large patches where they'd rammed her legs to the---thankfully---smaller splotches where the more adventurous specimens had launched themselves at her torso. Getting rid of the gooey, toxic slime they had left behind would be a longer process than she was ready for.

"You said this happened in the woods? That's an unusual place to encounter anything like this," Harvey spoke up again as he moved on to a swath of slime that wrapped around her ribs on one side, his voice wavering somewhere between his usual concerned disapproval and intellectual curiosity.

"Not the usual woods—the Secret Woods, by Rasmodius' place." She broke off to stifle a yelp as Harvey brushed over a particularly tender section of flesh. He frowned apologetically and murmured a string of soft nonsense as he eased back the pressure on the wound.

"I'm sorry about the sting, dear, but that should almost be the worst of it. We're nearly there." He smiled that taunt little half-smile the farmer had grown so familiar with over her many visits to this very gurney. It was hard for him to toe the line between the worry of a panicked partner hovering at his love's bedside and the calm efficiency of a doctor doing his job, and it came through loud and clear in that fretful smile, in the collection of worry lines around his eyes, and in the tension of his shoulders as he tried to keep his composure while he worked. All of it made her heart ache to take his hand and banish all that worry from his mind. And yet, circumstances always seemed to conspire against her and land her back under Harvey's care. "What were you saying about Rasmodius?"

There were _many_ things she could say about Rasmodius at the moment, but not many of them were nice. It wasn't that she disliked the man—as it happened, he was among the first and best of her friends in the Valley—but since he was indirectly to blame for her entering what seemed to be a slime nest without any weapons apart from her axe, well...she might wait a while before marching over to give him a piece of her mind. Just to have time to cool off. She gritted her teeth against Harvey's careful ministrations and hissed the words through them.

"He tipped me off about some hardwood in a—Ahh!"

"I know, honey, I know....just a little bit more now."

"—in a remote part of the forest northwest of him. Had to hack up some fallen trees to get at it, but he was—" She sucked a breath through her teeth to ward off another cry of pain. "—right about the wood. It's more than I've ever found anywhere else. More slimes, too, though."

Harvey let out a grumble of his own, his brow furrowing as he finally set the swabs aside and reached for a cannister of ointment and a roll of bandages. His hands stayed gentle as he began the process of medicating the wounds and binding and taping everything up, but the farmer could see the muscles in his jaw clenching with annoyance.

"Those woods are so close to your farm...If there's a slime infestation, you'll be in danger of further attacks while you're out tending crops or walking home from—"

"Harvey," she cut him off softly before he could work himself up into one of his towering lectures about safety (even if he might have been justified this once). "It's not that bad. Really. I've never seen a single slime outside of those particular groves. And even if I had, things would've gone very differently if I'd been armed. Which I will be on any future trips out that way, at least—" She stumbled a little over the words, the effects of so many slime stings beginning to catch up to her. "—at least until we can figure out if the slimes really do stay contained to that area."

Harvey pursed his lips and pressed the last strip of tape over the large square bandage that now wrapped around her side, clearly unconvinced. He frowned deeply as he cleared away the mess of medical equipment and peeled off the gloves that had kept his own hands safe during the procedure. The farmer yawned in the abrupt stretch of quiet, her eyelids beginning to flutter as the adrenaline she had needed to stagger her way to the clinic began to fade under the sluggishness that always came with slime attacks. It was tempting to fall drift off here and now, with the silence of the clinic and Harvey's calming presence to lull her to sleep. But, as weak and woozy as she was beginning to feel, it didn't seem fair to abandon him when he was still so upset. She reached for him, now that his hands were clean and unoccupied, and steadfastly ignored the fact that her own hand was trembling a little.

"I'm sorry about tonight, love."

Harvey looked up from sorting the instruments from his tray back into their proper drawers with more force than necessary and immediately closed the gap between them in two hasty strides, his eyes firmly fastened to her wobbly hand. He closed both of his gently around it, despite the fact that just one of his hands would dwarf hers. For a long moment, he just held it, mournful brown eyes wandering down to the bandages he had just placed before he blew out a heavy sigh and lowered his head to brush a kiss against her knuckles.

"I know. And I know you can't always help it when things like this happen. When it comes to it, I'm just grateful you're alive."

"Me, too." The farmer smiled and shifted her hand to rest it against his cheek, absently rubbing her thumb over the evening stubble that peppered his jawline. Harvey craned forward to give her an easier reach, propping one elbow on the bed to lean on and keeping the other hand pressed over hers. He smiled faintly then, a hint of his usual amiableness creeping back onto his face as he watched her.

"So, not only do you find all sorts of ways to injure yourself in the mines, you've progressed to attracting trouble above ground, too...What _am_ I going to do with you?"

"Kissing it better would be a good start," she murmured back, though she found it harder to stay alert by the second. Somehow, that didn't matter much now. Harvey chuckled softly, and reached over to smooth her disheveled hair off her forehead.

"I suppose it would be," He stooped to peck a featherlight kiss above her brow before straightening again and clearing his throat. "But it should be followed by at least three days of bed rest and a week of taking it easy around the farm."

The farmer made a growly noise of disapproval in the back of her throat, too tired to argue eloquently, but still quite opinionated on the matter. She had crops and animals to tend and a colony of slimes to take revenge on, none of which would keep for a week of lazing around the cottage.

"I mean it, dear," Harvey said as firmly as he could muster. "You need to rest. And you _will_ , even if I have to take care of the animals and harvest the parsnips myself!"

She snorted, wincing at the way the movement jarred her battered body, but too amused by the image of Harvey bustling around the farm in his neat suit and tie to hold back her snickers. Still, it was a nice sentiment. And if it meant that much to him, perhaps she could endure a few days' rest. "That's sweet, Harvey...I suppose I can rest a little..." The words were punctuated with a yawn that made the declaration seem a little redundant.

"Good." Harvey's shoulders sagged a notch or two in relief. "Now that that's decided, would you rather stay here tonight since you're already settled or would you be more comfortable upstairs?"

The farmer deliberated for a moment, weighing the merits of staying put on the clinic cot, where her sore body had already hollowed out a comfortable groove in the ancient mattress, or making the arduous trek upstairs to Harvey's cozy apartment, which had the added bonus of having both Harvey and Harvey's bed in it. It wasn't much of a contest.

"Upstairs, please," she murmured, biting back a groan as she struggled to get up. Even the thought of hiking upstairs on her jelly legs made her tired, but it would be worth it.

"Wait!" Harvey surged forward, looking alarmed as he looped an arm around her shoulders and scooped another beneath her legs before they could hit the floor. "I didn't mean you had to make it up there yourself! Please, let me."

He waited long enough for her nod of approval before he carefully gathered her up and eased her off the table. The farmer let her head fall against his shoulder and relaxed into him, pleasantly surprised by how easily he carried her out into the hall and up the narrow flight of stairs that divided the office and the home. He was stronger than he looked, his tall frame and gentle manner apparently hiding more strength than he let on.

She closed her eyes, breathing in the coffee and caramel scent that clung to his shirt from his daily mug of indulgence and the candies he kept in his pocket for difficult patients. His steady heartbeat beneath her ear and his warm, steady presence made the evening's tension melt away a little more with each slow, measured (to avoid any jostling) step he took. She drifted off in the knowledge that all was well, just as it usually was when Harvey was around. There was no better place to fall asleep. And no one better to fall asleep with.


End file.
